KickStart’s mission is to lift millions of people in Africa out of poverty, quickly, cost-effectively and sustainably by enabling them to make more money.

Africa's Challenge

Africa is a continent made up of farmers that cannot feed themselves despite the fact that it holds more than 1/4 of the world’s arable land. This challenge contributes to rampant poverty, malnutrition in children and adults, and unfortunate yet avoidable health and education outcomes.

The Solution

KickStart designs and promotes very low-cost, high quality irrigation pumps, enabling poor farmers to make their own rain, significantly increasing yields, incomes and providing a real path out of poverty.

Small-scale farmers start profitable businesses growing and selling high-value crops throughout the year, and lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Our key purpose is to help people make enough money to lift their family out of poverty.

Our Impact

291,020

Pumps Sold

1,100,000

People out of Poverty

People out of Poverty

We define “out of poverty” as the ability to meet basic needs like food, clothing, education and also the ability to save for the future. On average, each family has five members living on their farm who are significantly impacted by the new income. Total people out of poverty is calculated as total businesses created x 5 people per family.

220,000

Businesses Created

Businesses Created

Approximately 75% of pumps sold are actively being used to create a profitable family farming business. This is a conservative approximate figure that has been verified in numerous follow-up surveys. Total businesses created is calculated as ~75% of pumps sold.

11 million

People Fed Each Year

People Fed Each Year

On average, each business grows enough fruits and vegetables to feed their own family as well as 9 other families (~50 people) all year round. So, people fed is calculated as businesses created x 50.

200,000

Jobs Created

Jobs Created

On average, each family business creates 0.9 jobs on their farm. One job is defined as 150 days per year x 5 hours of work per day. Jobs created is calculated as businesses created x 0.9.

$190 million

Annual New Farm Profits and Wages

Annual New Farm Profits and Wages

On average, each family business generates $850 per year in new net incomes and new wages for their employees. This figure is calculated as the number of new businesses created x $850.

Aqwalina suffered the mistreatment of her abusive husband for thirteen years. One day, he left her and their young son, Dennis, with nothing but the land under their feet.

Lessons Learned from 25 Years of Fighting Poverty

The #1 need of the poor is a way to make more money

When you have cash, you can pay for food, water, shelter, medicine, education and other basic necessities. If you don’t, you can’t. It is that simple. People need a sustainable way to earn more money.

Poor people are not victims waiting to be rescued

To define people by their conditions rather than their qualities is dehumanizing.

When you look past the poverty, you see abilities, resources, and desires. The poor are extremely hardworking and entrepreneurial – they must be just to survive. They don’t want or need to be rescued. They want an opportunity to create a better life for their families.

Giveaways can create dependency

Giveaways make sense in response to a humanitarian crisis, but if not done carefully, they create dependency and undermine the local economy. Selling things creates a greater sense of ownership and provides a more sustainable and lasting solution.

It’s all about the supply chain

The greatest invention will have little impact if it does not get to the people who need it.

This is especially true when inventing for the developing world. A private sector profit-making supply chain is the most cost-effective and self-sustaining way of delivering goods and services to the poor.

High quantity AND high quality

The world's poor deserve high-quality, long-lasting tools.

We may have grown accustomed to products with short life spans; but the poor need reliable tools that can be easily maintained and repaired with readily available replacement parts.

Individual ownership

Africa is littered with broken-down and abandoned communally-owned assets.

It's often a case of the "tragedy of the commons." If "everyone" owns something, then in reality no one owns it—leaving no one responsible for its care and maintenance. Individual ownership is the key to sustainable economic development.